history
A New Theory of Western Civilization
Could a marriage policy first pursued by the Catholic Church a millennium and a half ago explain what made the industrialized world so powerful—and so peculiar?
TL;DR
- The Catholic Church's early marriage policies, starting around 597 a.d., aimed to convert Anglo-Saxons by altering marriage customs and quashing practices like polygamy and marriages between relatives.
- These policies systematically dismantled kin-based societies and encouraged nuclear families, leading to a shift from communal to individualistic identities.
- This cultural shift, according to Joseph Henrich, is central to his theory explaining the rise of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) societies, characterized by hyper-individualism and mobility.
- The book argues that these changes in kinship institutions are the root cause of Western psychological peculiarities and economic prosperity, contrasting with more collectivistic societies.
- Henrich's theory suggests that WEIRD populations exhibit distinct cognitive styles, being more analytical and less holistic in their thinking due to their cultural evolution.
- The author connects the Church's influence to subsequent developments like Protestantism, the Enlightenment, science, and the Industrial Revolution, all of which reinforced Western individualism.